Dying Flame
by GoldenMockingjay
Summary: A sort of 'what if' story. What if Katniss had saved Rue and died instead? This is my take on how that would have been. Starts from when they set out to blow up the food. Might be a bit of a tear-jerker, depends how you look at it.


**A/N: Yes, another story. I'm on a writing roll here! This is a one-shot. Kind of a 'what if?' story. What if Katniss had been hit with the spear and died instead of Rue? This is my take on how that would have gone. In Katniss's POV. Starting from when they're blowing up the food.**

**Might be a bit of a tear-jerker. Depends how you look at it I guess.**

**Read and review please! :)**

* * *

><p>Our plan was simple. We're going to blow up the careers food supply. Without that, they will eventually starve since they're from the richer Districts and probably never really learned how to find their own food. When they're hungry, they get weaker, and when they're weaker they are easier to outsmart and destroy single-handedly.<p>

Me and Rue has split up a while ago. I just hope she's OK. We've became good friends since we allied. She shares her knowledge with me and I share mine with her. We've both learned some new interesting and helpful skills over the past while. There is one moment I'm dreading though. The moment we have to break the alliance and go against each other. I definitely can't kill a twelve-year-old girl. She reminds me so much of Prim, my own little sister, so in a way she's my sister too. And how could one kill their own sister? Not mention she's younger than me in general and has more life to live. If it comes down to it, I think I'll let her kill me. She deserves to make it out of here.

I feel the cool night air whip against my skin as I stealthily sneak around the forest, waiting for Rue to light to second fire. It's taken her quite a while. Is she alright? I hope so. I mean, she couldn't have been caught that easily, could she? She's way too small and sneaky to go down without a chase. _Pull yourself together, Katniss! Just wait for the signal._ I silently order myself. I look up into the sky and notice something - the wisps of smoke rising. That's it, Rue lit the second fire. Time to blow the food up.

I walk for a few more minutes until I reach the clearing. I see their huge food supply. _Wow, if only I could have gotten that much._ I begin to step forward but I stop when I see someone, I believe it's Foxface, dash from the opposite side right toward their food. I jump back behind a tree and watch. She stops, just in front of it and begins doing some weird...dance? I don't know. She's hopping around. She reaches the food, picks some up and puts it in her bag, hops around again,and sprints back off into the forest. Okay, odd. I stand there, perplexed for a moment.

I snap out of it and steadily step forward, just enough to have a clear line of shooting range to the food. Then it hits me. Mines. There were mines in the ground all around their food. That's why Foxface was hopping around, to avoid their explosions! An idea comes to me. Alright, I'll just set them off from a safe distance - or at least I hope it's a safe distance. The careers are preoccupied anyway. I take an arrow from my sheath and string it. I shoot. It slices the top of the bag of apples. I shoot another arrow. It slices it a bit more, and knocks it slightly off the edge. I shoot one more, and it hits directly. The apple bag falls, spilling out some of the apples in the process, and hits the ground. Everything else happens in a blur, I hear the explosions of the mines and I am thrown backwards. I fly through the air for a brief time and land roughly on my back, which knocks the wind out of me.

I try getting back up, but another explosion goes off, causing me to fall back on my stomach. I notice something red dripping down my neck and on my chest. Blood. I life my hand up to touch my left ear and notice it is what's bleeding. The noise from the explosions must have busted my ear drum or something, because I also can hardly hear out of it. I finally manage to get up, but I feel extremely dizzy and sick to my stomach. I can hardly keep my eyes open. I walk about two steps and end up falling into a pile of leafs. I want to get up but every part of me is trying to shut down and rest. I finally give in and black out with one last thought, _Please be OK Rue..._

I wake up to daylight. It must be the afternoon. Wait, afternoon! I've been passed out for at least a few good hours. I faintly remember what happened. The explosions, me being thrown back, my ear...my ear. I tap it and notice the bleeding has stopped. One good sign. Then the bad news, I can't hear a thing out of it. I'm completely deaf in one ear now. Great. Well, my right ear still works, so that'll have to do for now. I timidly start walking further into the forest towards mine and Rue's meeting area. I hope she made it back there, and I hope she doesn't think that I've abandoned her. Or worse, that I've died. I continue walking, which seems to be taking forever. I passed one of the burnt out fires Rue had lit last night, but no sign of the third fire being lit. Weird.

I hear a scream. A gut-wrenching scream full of terror and desperation. It sounds like a child's scream. I know only one person in this arena capable of making that sound. It's Rue, and she sounds like she's just through the bushes ahead of me. I make a mad dash ahead, stringing an arrow to my bow to be ready for attack. I jump through the bushes and come into a clearing. I'm horrified at what I see.

It's Rue. Helplessly tangled in a net. She must have left her knives back at the meeting area, thinking they would be too much to bring with her. Right in front of her is Marvel, the career from District 1, his spear ready to throw, aimed right at Rue. He throws it straight at her. When I look at her I see a little girl, one so strong and brave. One who is capable of wonderful things. I see a mirror image of my sweet Primrose. Before I even thought about what I was doing, I launched myself in front of Rue and the spear, dropping my bow and arrow sheath in the process. The spear flies right at me and lodges itself in my abdomen. I clench my teeth and shut my eyes tightly at the burning, unbearable pain that spreads throughout my body. I want to just drop and let myself die, but I know we're still in danger.

I pick up one of arrows from where they dropped, clumsily string it, and manage to shoot it at Marvel, hitting him in the neck and killing him almost instantly. I pick up another arrow and simply throw it at the top of the net that holds Rue, it falls loose and she untangles herself from it.

"Are there more, are there more!" I frantically ask, but my voice is now barely above a whisper.

"No." she replies, and has to several times before I finally hear her.

I drop to the ground on my back and lie there breathing heavily, tears forming in my eyes. My mother, Prim, Gale, Haymitch, Cinna, Peeta, Portia, the prep team, Effie...I've failed them all. I can't imagine what they're going through while watching me painfully and slowly fade from this world. Especially Prim and my mother, they must be broken down in tears and feeling helpless. I feel so bad, but I protected Rue. That's what allies are for.

Rue drops down on her knees beside me, her expression empty and full of sorrow. Tears are in her eyes as well. I will not cry, no, I can't. I'll be strong for both of us. We both know I'm going to die, no way around it. I take a moment to look at my wound, and drop my head immediately back down. I'm all bloody, even some on my arms now. The spear still sticks out from my stomach. Neither me nor Rue figure there's much need to take it out. She smooths some hair from my forehead and asks,

"Why did you do that? You'd have a much better chance than me."

"Because, we're friends and allies. We protect each other. You do have a chance, Rue. Now you _need_ to win, for both of us." I reply, emphasizing need, she needs to win because I can't stand to see her die now.

"I will. For both of us now."

I think about death now. I'm dying. The pain is becoming worse with every waking second. I think of the one thing I wanted when I died, I wanted someone to sing to me. It would be the most peaceful way to leave this world, this cruel world that makes us kids participate in the Hunger Games, the main reason I'm dying right now.

"Sing?" I ask her, my voice hoarse, quiet, and laced with pain.

She seems to hesitate for a moment, then she begins. Her voice is soothing, and very beautiful. She sings like an angel, well, a young angel. Either way, I couldn't think of anything better to listen to as I go, besides maybe my mother at home.

_Deep in the meadow, under the willow_

_A bed of grass, a soft green pillow_

_Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes_

_And when they open, the sun will rise._

_Here it's safe, here it's warm_

_Here the daisies guard you from every harm_

_Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true_

_Here is the place where I love you._

This is the song my mother used to sing to me and Prim. I also sung it to Prim one time when she was home from school with a fever. We were younger then, so elated and carefree. I miss those days.

How Rue knows this lullaby, I don't know. But I appreciate what she's doing for me right now. Singing for me as I die in the forest.

_Deep in the meadow, hidden far away_

_A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray_

_Forget your woes and let your troubles lay_

_And when it's morning, they'll wash away._

My tears are silently falling now. I'm going to miss everyone. Rue, Gale, Hazelle, Peeta, mother, Prim, Cinna, Portia, the rest of my prep team...even drunken ol' Haymitch. I wonder how they're taking this in on their TV screens right now. My eyes are getting heavier, drooping, and it's taking everything I have not to let them close.

_Here it's safe, here it's warm_

_Here the daisies guard you from every harm_

_Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true_

She chokes up on the last line, but manages to say it. She's crying now too.

_Here is the place where I love you._

She finishes, and is holding my hand. I can't stay any longer, the life is almost gone from me. My breathing is shallow, my eyes are only open a sliver, and I'm pretty sure my skin is getting paler by the minute. I think of one last thing, one last question I want to ask her.

"How did you know that lullaby?" I manage to croak it out, but it was so quiet I wonder if she even heard me. Sure enough though, she answers.

"I heard you singing it one day in the Capitol. During lunch in the training centre. I heard you talking to Peeta about how it's special to you because your family used to sing it to you, and you sang it to your sister. I thought it would be a good song to sing for you 'cause...you know." Her voice is thick with tears, which are now streaming down her face.

I use the last of my strength to reach up and wipe them away from her cheek. I put a faint smile on my face. My hand drops afterwards. I finally close my eyes, as the last of my life seeps away. My breathing stops. My grip on Rue's hand fades. I am finally free of the pain and torture.

The last image I see is Rue hugging my lifeless body, tears flowing freely from her eyes. I know she will at least try to win. For me.

I, Katniss Everdeen, did not win the Hunger Games. But I died protecting an ally. I died not just a piece in their Games.

* * *

><p><strong>That's all. I hope you all enjoyed it. I would love to hear your feedback in a REVIEW! :D come on!<strong>

**Also, sorry if anything seemed wrong, anyone seemed OOC, or if the lullaby is slightly off. I didn't read the book very well before I started this, I'm basically playing by memory.**


End file.
